1. FIELD OF INVENTION
The invention relates to a massage apparatus, more particularly to a massage apparatus which has a massage means that moves in a wavy manner so as to provide a massage by rubbing and kneading to the body part disposed on it.
2. DESCRIPTION OF THE RELATED ART
Referring to FIGS. 1 and 2, a conventional massage apparatus includes a casing (1) having a base bottom (2) and a top with an elongated opening (14) provided therethrough and an actuating switch (12) for operating the massage apparatus. An elongated support means (3) having two curved portions (31) to receive body parts, such as the calf of a leg, is provided on the top of the casing (1) extending in the direction of the elongated opening (14). A driving unit is mounted on the base bottom (2) and has a speed reduction gear (5) with a driving shaft (51). A rectangular driving plate (52) is eccentrically fixed to the driving shaft (51). The driving plate (52) further includes a driving wheel (54) fixed thereto. A mounting frame (6) with two spaced apart guide rails (62) is mounted adjacent to the driving unit in the casing (1). A sliding plate (4) which has an oval-shaped opening at an intermediate portion is slidably attached to the mounted frame (6). The sliding plate (4) has a top portion extending through the elongated opening of the top of the casing (1) and screw-connected to the elongated support means. After the massage apparatus is assembled, the periphery of the driving wheel (54) rotatably contacts the oval-shaped opening of the sliding plate (4). Thus, once the driving unit is actuated, the sliding plate (4) moves to and fro in a horizontal direction, moving the elongated support means (3) lengthwise due to a rotation of the rectangular driving plate (51), thereby providing a massage to the body part put thereon.
A drawback of the above-mentioned massage apparatus is that since the support member supporting the body part to be massaged moves to and fro only in the direction of the elongated opening, the body part is massaged only in that direction.